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Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Keep Her Safe by Sophie Hannah

First Line: For the longest time, I thought my sister, Emory, was the lucky one.

The best thing she can do for herself, Cara Burrows thinks, is to leave her family a note, hop a plane, leave England, and spend two weeks in a five-star resort in Paradise Valley, Arizona.

Exhausted beyond words when she arrives, all she wants to do is go to bed, but when she walks into the bathroom of her suite, she finds it's already occupied by a man and his daughter. The mistake is remedied at the front desk, but Cara soon realizes that the young girl she saw in that room was someone she couldn't possibly have seen: Melody Chapa, the most famous murder victim in America.

Now she's got to decide what she's going to do. Did she really see Melody? And what's she prepared to do about it-- especially if it means risking her own life?

Author Sophie Hannah enjoys the resorts in the Phoenix metropolitan area, and she's wanted to set a book in Arizona for a long time, but it wasn't until she was given the key to an already-occupied hotel room in the UK that she had the perfect idea for a story. Keep Her Safe does have an intriguing premise that satisfies on many levels, but not all.

The cast of characters isn't the most likable in the world, but I didn't mind because they were all interesting in their own ways. Cara Burrows tends to be a spineless whiner who'd rather dip into the family savings and run thousands of miles away than stay put and have a heart-to-heart with her husband and children. This was Cara's first time in the United States as well as her first time in a five-star resort, and it was often amusing to watch her experience culture shock.

Cara is "befriended" by Tarin Fry, a woman who's as blunt as a lead pipe. Tarin can be funny, but I'd no more want to live with that woman than I'd take up residence in a rattlesnake den. There's also Bonnie Juno, the woman who has her own hit television show, "Justice with Bonnie," and a police officer named Priddey who still cares even though he tries to convince himself that he doesn't.

Keep Her Safe's storyline was compulsive reading, and the characters certainly were entertaining, but in the end, it just felt a bit too contrived, and I think the police officer would agree: "Priddey felt as if he were watching a drama in which everyone loved their own lines a bit too much." The book would have been better if more of the characters had not been waiting impatiently for their close-ups.

First of all, I find it totally frightening that a key could be given to an already occupied room! Seriously? That might keep me awake at night. Ha! Secondly, I've not actually read any of Sophie Hannah's books, though I own several of them. She seems to be hit or miss with readers. Think that may be why I keep passing over my copies of her books, while still acquiring them. Sigh. I should just pull up my 'big girl' pants and read one. Then I can decide. Have you read other books by her?

No, I haven't read other books by Hannah, but the feeling I got just from reading this one was "hit or miss." The next time she's at The PP, I'll be there. She made me laugh so much as I was watching the Livestream of her event.

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About Me

Hi! I'm addicted to books (especially crime fiction), laughter and traveling off the beaten path. In my free time, when my eyes aren't glued to the printed page, one of them is usually pressed against the viewfinder of my camera. Let's see... books, laughter, travel, photography. Anything else? Oh yeah-- my dream house wouldn't have a kitchen!